The Greater Terran United Confederation was thetest manifestation of the oldest continuous state in human civilization. Although the names might change, the humans who looked up to the ancestry of Old Earth always referred to themselves as Terrans.


    As one might expect, Terrans thought highly of themselves. Old Earth was the original birthce of mankind and even in the Age of Mechs it continued to y a pivotal role as one of the most important cultural institutions of the human race.


    The stuck-up ancient ns that ruled at the top were so oppressive and insufferable that at some point during the Age of Conquest, arge amount of colonies rose up in rebellion!


    Suffice to say, a lot of non-Earth humans hated the Terran elites and were just waiting for a moment to shake loose from their rule!


    While the Terrans managed to suppress most of the uprisings in time using their awesome military might, the cowardly Terran leaders kept too many warships close to home. This afforded some of the more powerful rebellious colonies situated further away from Old Earth precious time to establish themselves!


    By the time the conservative Terrans finally realized what their cautious defensive and reactive stance had wrought, the New Rubarth Empire already came into existence!


    Ever since then, the Terrans needed to contend with the new kid on the block.


    Having unshackled themselves from the stuffy Terrans, the newly-emerged Rubarthans quickly caught up and overtook their old masters! The bold and daring reforms they implemented through everyyer of their society enabled the Rubarthans to be incredibly productive!


    Seeing the Rubarthans rise up and take over the crown that rightfully belonged to the original birthce of mankind, the Greater Terran United Confederation tentatively reformed their own society.


    They had no choice! If they continued to stick to the old ways that led to most of their far-flung colonies rising up in arms, the Terrans would continue to decline!


    In the end, while the Terrans implemented a lot of decent reforms, the ancient ns were far too unwilling to enable others to challenge their oligopoly on power. Many outside observers considered their reforms to be too half-hearted. Many of the same inefficiencies and excesses that gued the old Terrans still existed in modern times.


    This was why most of the gxy considered the New Rubarth Empire to be the new standard bearers of humanity. Other than the Big Two, most of human space now looked up to the Rubarthans for leadership.


    Ves always thought that the weakness of the Greater Terran United Confederation had always been overstated. Much of the gxy became so inured in the wide reach of pro-Rubarthan influences that theypletely disregarded the fact that the Confederation was still a first-rate superstate!


    Yet now that the System forcefully inserted his consciousness in the mind of a decadent junkie like Axr Streon, he began to think the Rubarthans may had a point!


    Axr possessed so much talent and ability, but he squandered it all!


    Just the a-carte automatic mech design service he had ess was an incredibly powerful tool in the right hands! Ves had never seen ayman put together a mech so easily!


    In the right hands, a mech pilot would be able to use the auto designer to pick and choose the properties of a mech from the ground up!


    This was incredibly valuable because a mech pilot would not be stuck with the same strengths and weaknesses of their existing mechs. A mech pilot who used an auto designer to their full potential would be able to put together a mech that precisely countered the opposition!


    Combined with materialization technology that could faithfully reproduce any mech design down to the atom, then the power and versatility at Axr’s disposal should have been enough for him to dominate


    Yet what did Axr do with all of this power?


    He just picked and chose randomponents and let the AIs mash them together without any regard for fit and synergy!


    Ves was vaguely able to determine the date from some of the tech he witnessed in the auto designer’s catalog. He estimated that the System sent him back at least ny years this time.


    Even then, most of the high technology at Axr’s disposal astounded him! Even though this junkie probably hadn’t been coherent enough to know what he was putting in his own mech, the parts he selected all cost a fortune!


    The mech that Axr ended up with was technically a multipurpose mech. It featured half-a-dozen weapon systems, most of them integrated all over the torso and the head of the abomination the AIs produced.


    Axr only added a positron rifle and a Destroyer Sword out of force of habit.


    The bloated hero mech that came out possessed arms unsuited for the weapons they carried, a targeting system that only worked well with heavy artillery weapons, legs that were a bit too light for all of the mass it was meant to support, a flight system with wings that were way too massive and cumbersome, an armor system that should have only been used in heavy mechs, and an amazingly resilient active shielding system that drained the mech’s insufficient power supply within minutes!


    In other words, the auto-generated hero mech that Axr was about to duel with was a sluggish, bloated mess with practically no endurance should it activate all of its systems!


    If Ves was in charge, he would have easily been able to build a mech that was at least ten times more effective in battle!


    "You stupid drug-addled idiot!" Ves mentally cursed at Axr. "Even if you know nothing about mech design, you should at least know better than to weigh your mech down with such a cumbersome armor system! Even if the flight system you chose is powerful, that is only the case with proper medium mechs!"


    As it was, the hero mech that Axr ended up with was practically a sitting duck! Its turning rate was so slow that practically anypetent opponent would be able to circle around and attack Axr’s mech from the rear!


    Even as Ves vented his frustration at Axr for constantly clouding his mind with recreational stimnt, he also noted the technologies at the Terran highborn’s disposal.


    Practically every aspect surpassed the technology used in the gctic rim by an incredible margin!


    "With all of this high technology and high-grade exotics at the Confederation’s disposal, it’s no surprise that they don’t stick to specialized mech archetypes."


    Many weapon systems didn’t take up a lot of space, but could nevertheless inflict a lot of damage. This led to the trend of integrating various weapon systems in the frame of the mech.


    It was kind of like integrating frontline mech traits into the frame of a standard humanoid mech. Throughbining numerous internal and external weapon systems into a single machine, a multipurpose mech exhibited much fewer apparent weaknesses.


    Not only that, but many of the high-tech flight systems avable in the auto designer were not as cumbersome as those used in the gctic rim! Better tech and better materials allowedponent designers to miniaturize and even break up the flight system into remarkablypact modules!


    This basically meant that purendbound mechs didn’t exist in first-rate superstates! Almost every mech possessed the capability to fly because it was incredibly easy to integrate flight systems and flight modules to even the heaviest mech frames.


    If designed correctly, then first-ss mechs might even be able to operate under all four major environmental conditions! This meant that a single mech could operate onnd, in the air, in space and underwater without suffering any major handicaps to their performance!


    "This is practically the holynd of mech design!"


    Ves envied Axr’s ess to so much high technology and excellent materials. Although the scion of the Streon n was a member of the Terran elite, the mechs piloted by the rank-and-file shouldn’t be too much worse!


    "No wonder a lot of Masters sumb to the temptation of moving to the gctic center. With so many possibilities, Masters have a much easier time in realizing their ideal mech designs."


    Still, the sheer amount of abundance at the disposal of the Terrans also led to a lot of waste. Every mech was overengineered and tried to stuff far more exotic systems and gimmicks than any single machine ought to possess. The high degree of restraint exhibited by mech designers in the gctic rim was nowhere present in the gctic center!


    "More is not always better." Ves mentally shook his head.


    As a mech designer from the gctic rim, Ves inherited the prevailing values of the region. Efficiency was paramount, and even if he did not always put this priority first, he still valued cost-efficient designs.


    His exposure to Terran mech standards still left him reeling to be honest. Ves felt like he was a pauper who lived in the slums all his life, only to be picked up and dropped into a prosperous downtown city district!


    "How many Terrans have ess to something like the auto designer?"


    Although Ves looked down on the crappy auto-generated mech that Axr casually put together, it was still a genuine first-ss mech that could defeat hundreds of third-ss mechs in a straightforward battle!


    "What a waste!" Ves couldn’t help butment at Axr’s ugly creation.


    In practice, the multipurpose mech’sck of mobility and low endurance made the mech far too susceptible against long-ranged artillery bombardment.


    While Ves continued to mentally berate the awful mech design that Axr put together, a few hours passed by. Benny finally injected Alexar with some sort of flushing chemical that pulled thepletely insensitive junkie back into a half-coherent state.


    "Master Oliver of the Renwald n has arrived." Benny dutifully informed.


    "Oh? Why is Oliver here?" Axr asked with a slur in his voice.


    "You scheduled a friendly mech duel with him tonight. Don’t you remember?"


    After seven painfully long seconds, Axr a light finally dawned in his eyes. "Oh right! I promised I would kick his butt this time! With the amazing new mech that I’ve designed, I’ll finally be able to gloat in front of his face!"


    With the assistance of Benny and an array of bots, Axr freshened up his appearance and donned a very sharp outfit. If not for his hazy eyes and his swaying movements, he might have actually lived up to the high reputation of the Terrans.


    Momentster, Axr moved to the foyer of his vi and met his friend.


    "Axr! How’s it going, buddy?"


    "I’m feeling fantastic, Oliver! Ever since I took over that pharmaceuticalpany, I’ve been enjoying some of the best highs in my life!"


    "Hey, don’t keep all the good stuff to yourself!"


    "I would never deprive you of my stimnts. Benny, hit Oliver up with thetest form."


    Axr’s bodyguard silently stepped forward. Benny nodded once to Oliver’s bodyguards before he injected the guest with a powerful stimnt.


    "Whoa! I’m seeing stars! Damn, I need to sit down for this. I can feel the next waveing already!"


    "Hahaha! My drugpany makes the best stimnts in the gxy!" Axr boasted. "Benny, hit me up with a dose as well!"


    "Master Axr, what about your duel?"


    "Forget about the duel! Testing mypany’stest form is much more important! In fact, scrap the duel!"


    "And your newly-materialized mech?"


    "Dump it into a star for all I care."


    Ves watched with mounting disgust as Axr and Oliver both forgot about the mech duel they previously scheduled. Instead, they spent the rest of the evening sampling some of thetest stimnt forms that Axr’s pharmaceuticalpany developed for their owner!


    All of the drugs were very potent on their own, but when taken in quick session, their effects blended with each other to achieve incredibly powerful physiological reactions!


    Both Axr and Oliver drugged themselves into apletely smashed and insensate state! Even newborn babies were more coherent than this pair of degenerate druggies!